In the days before cell phones and wired telephones, communication was by telegraph. Railroads built control towers to protect the rail lines so trains would not run into each other. This is Drocton Tower which protected the East end of Renovo yards. Manned 24 hours a day, the Tower Operators that worked here clicked messages back and forth to other towers reporting the location of the trains as they passed via telegraph. They also remotely threw switches by pulling big levers which pulled on cables and rods along side the tracks to route the trains onto the proper tracks to avoid other trains. For the curious adventurist looking to get away from these boring computers for a few hours, remnants of this towers foundation still remain below the Memorial Bridge hidden in weeds for you to still go there and reminisce of what once was...
Posted on: Fri, 24 Oct 2014 19:10:45 +0000
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